70-467: Robert Leckie may refer to: Robert Leckie (RCAF officer) (1890–1975), Canadian air marshal Robert Leckie (author) (1920–2001), American author of military history Robert Leckie (footballer) (1846–1887), Scottish footballer Robert Gilmour Leckie (1833–1914), Canadian mining engineer [REDACTED] Topics referred to by the same term This disambiguation page lists articles about people with
140-524: A de Havilland DH.4 biplane, and were again heading for Terschelling. However, they were only part-way to their destination when they unexpectedly encountered the Zeppelins L 44 and L 46 accompanied by support ships. The British aircraft were hit by enemy fire, but pressed their attack on the L 44 . Nicholl noted several hits on the Zeppelin from his guns, but it did not catch fire. Leckie then turned
210-687: A Royal Air Force squadron and station commander, eventually becoming the RAF's Director of Training in 1935, and was Air Officer Commanding RAF Mediterranean from 1938 until after the beginning of the Second World War. In 1940 he returned to Canada where he was primarily responsible for the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan , transferring to the Royal Canadian Air Force in 1942. Leckie
280-485: A central role in the development of Canadian civil aviation, organizing and taking part in the first trans-Canada flight between Halifax and Vancouver . Leckie and Major Basil Hobbs flew from Halifax to Winnipeg between 7 and 10 October 1920, before other pilots and aircraft took over, finally arriving in Vancouver on the 17th. Leckie's secondment ended on 27 May 1922, and he returned to Britain to be posted to
350-768: A dogfight ensued which lasted for 40 minutes. Despite further mechanical difficulties – two other F2A's also had problems with their fuel pipes and had to effect makeshift repairs while in the middle of the action – two German aircraft were shot down, and four badly damaged before the Germans broke off the action, for the loss of one F.2A and the Curtiss (its crew survived to be interned by the Dutch), and one man killed. Leckie's force returned to Great Yarmouth, and in his report he bitterly remarked "...these operations were robbed of complete success entirely through faulty petrol pipes... It
420-535: A naval officer. The Naval Wing, by the terms of its inception was permitted to carry out experimentation at its flying school at Eastchurch. The Royal Flying Corps, although formed of two separate branches, allowed for direct entry to either branch through a joint Special Reserve of Officers, although soon the Navy inducted new entries into the Royal Naval Reserve . In the summer of 1912, in recognition of
490-399: Is obvious that our greatest foes are not the enemy..." On the afternoon of 5 August 1918 a squadron of five Zeppelins took off from Friedrichshafen . They headed for the east coast of England, timing their flight to arrive off the coast just after dark. The leading airship, L 70 was commanded by Kapitänleutnant Johann von Lossnitzer, but also had Fregattenkapitän Peter Strasser ,
560-459: The 1st Wing, Canadian Air Force . This unit comprised No. 81 Squadron (No. 1 Canadian) , flying S.E.5 and Sopwith Dolphin fighters, and No. 123 Squadron (No. 2 Canadian) , flying Airco DH.9A bombers, and was based at RAF Shoreham , Sussex . The Canadian Wing had been formed in August 1918 at RAF Upper Heyford , Oxfordshire , but never saw active service, and was eventually disbanded when
630-715: The British Army 's Royal Flying Corps to form the Royal Air Force (RAF), the world's first independent air force. It was replaced by the Fleet Air Arm , initially consisting of those RAF units that normally operated from ships, but emerging as a separate unit similar to the original RNAS by the time of the Second World War . On 21 July 1908 Captain Reginald Bacon , who was a member of
700-746: The Canadian Expeditionary Force returned home. On 1 August 1919 Leckie was granted a permanent commission in the Royal Air Force with the rank of major (later squadron leader), relinquishing his commission in the 1st Central Ontario Regiment of the Overseas Military Forces of Canada on the 31st. On 15 December 1919 he was seconded for duty with the Canadian Air Board serving as Superintendent of Flying Operations. In this role he played
770-932: The Curtiss Model F flying boat at Hanlan's Point, when the school was forced to close for the winter. At the urging of Sir Charles Kingsmill , the Chief of the Naval Staff of the Royal Canadian Navy, the Royal Navy agreed to accept half of the class, and Leckie was sent to England. On 6 December 1915, he was commissioned as a probationary temporary flight sub-lieutenant in the Royal Naval Air Service , and posted to Royal Navy Air Station Chingford , for training. On 10 May 1916, having accumulated 33 hours and 3 minutes flying time, he
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#1732784043958840-639: The Distinguished Flying Cross . A few days later, on 11 August 1918 Leckie took part in another operation over the North Sea. Zeppelins often shadowed British naval ships, while carefully operating at higher altitudes than anti-aircraft guns or flying boats could achieve, and out of range of land based aircraft, so the Harwich Light Cruiser Force set out with a Sopwith Camel lashed to a decked lighter towed by
910-653: The Führer der Luftschiffe ("Leader of Airships"), the commander of the Imperial German Navy 's airship force, on board. However, the airship squadron was spotted while out at sea by the Lenman Tail lightship which signalled their course and position to the Admiralty. Responding to the report Major Egbert Cadbury jumped into the pilot's seat of the only aircraft available, a DH.4 , while Leckie occupied
980-603: The Isle of Grain and an airship base at Kingsnorth were approved for construction. The same year provision was made in the naval estimates for eight airfields to be constructed, and for the first time aircraft participated in manoeuvres with the Royal Navy, using the converted cruiser Hermes as a seaplane carrier. On 16 April ten officers of the naval service graduated from the Central Flying School. As of 7 June 44 officers and 105 other ranks had been trained at
1050-670: The No. 1 School of Technical Training at RAF Halton on 8 June. On 25 September he was posted the RAF Depot (Inland Area) as a supernumerary officer, in order to attend the Royal Navy Staff College. On 5 July 1923 he was posted to the Headquarters of RAF Coastal Area . On 1 January 1926 Leckie was promoted to wing commander , and on 16 March was posted to Headquarters, Mediterranean, where on 30 March he joined
1120-838: The Aerial Navigation Sub-Committee, submitted to the First Sea Lord Sir John Fisher that a rigid airship based on the German Zeppelin be designed and constructed by the firm of Vickers . After much discussion on the Committee of Imperial Defence the suggestion was approved on 7 May 1909. Though Bacon had been intended as the Superintendent of Construction, his departure from the Royal Navy in November 1909 saw
1190-589: The Air Staff, aged 84. He was survived by his widow, Bernice, and two sons. Leckie was inducted into the Canadian Aviation Hall of Fame in 1988. Royal Naval Air Service The Royal Naval Air Service ( RNAS ) was the air arm of the Royal Navy , under the direction of the Admiralty's Air Department , and existed formally from 1 July 1914 to 1 April 1918, when it was merged with
1260-786: The Central Flying School and at Eastchurch, and 35 officers and men had been trained in airship work. Three non-rigid airships built for the army, the Willows , Astra-Torres and the Parseval were taken over by the navy. On 1 July 1914, the Admiralty made the Royal Naval Air Service, forming the Naval Wing of the Royal Flying Corps, part of the Military Branch of the Royal Navy. Promotions to
1330-589: The Channel, the North Sea and the vicinity of the Strait of Gibraltar for U-boats. In 1917 alone, they sighted 175 U-boats and attacked 107. Because of the technology of the time the attacks were not very successful in terms of submarines sunk, but the sightings greatly assisted the Navy's surface fleets in combatting the enemy submarines. It was the RNAS which provided much of the mobile cover using armoured cars , during
1400-821: The Dardanelles. As trench warfare developed, the armoured cars could no longer operate on the Western Front and were redeployed to other theatres including the Middle East , Romania and Russia . In the summer of 1915 the 12 squadrons were disbanded and the army took over control of 4 squadrons of armoured cars, with the units coming under the command of the Motor Branch of the Machine Gun Corps . On formation in December No. 1 Squadron
1470-470: The F.2A's, number N.4533, was forced down with a broken fuel feed-pipe. Five enemy seaplanes appeared, but seemed more interested in attacking the crippled F.2A. The remaining aircraft circled N.4533 as it taxied towards to the Dutch coast (where the crew eventually burned their aircraft before being interned), until ten more German seaplanes appeared. Leckie promptly led his small force into a head on attack, and
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#17327840439581540-630: The Force had become the Royal Naval Armoured Car Division (RNACD) with a planned expansion to 23 squadrons. In the end it mustered 20 active squadrons, 3 equipped with armoured cars , 7 with mixed armoured cars and lorries, 5 with motorcycle-combinations, 3 with armoured lorries, 1 experimental squadron (No.20) and an emergency squadron formed in Alexandria using armoured car sections from N.. 3 and 4 Squadrons not landed in
1610-636: The North African coast by the German submarine U-35 , he survivors had ended up in Senousi hands and taken inland to Bir Hakiem . In 1916 the Duke of Westminister took a force of nine armoured cars, three Ford cars with Lewis gun armament, and 28 other cars and ambulances on a operation to recover them . After travelling 100 miles across the desert, the column reached the location where the Senousi gave up
1680-498: The RNAS both pilots and observers held appointments as well as their normal Royal Navy ranks, and wore insignia appropriate to the appointment instead of the rank. The insignia consisted of standard Royal Navy cuff stripes corresponding to their normal ranks, surmounted by an eagle (for pilots) or a winged letter "O" (for observers). In addition, Squadron Commanders and Squadron Observers with less than eight years' seniority had their insignia surmounted by two eight-pointed stars, one above
1750-402: The RNAS had to use seaplanes in order to operate at sea. Beginning with experiments on the old cruiser HMS Hermes , special seaplane tenders were developed to support these aircraft. It was from these ships that a raid on Zeppelin bases at Cuxhaven , Nordholz Airbase and Wilhelmshaven was launched on Christmas Day of 1914. This was the first attack by British ship-borne aircraft;
1820-594: The Royal Aero Club, thanks to one of its members, Francis McClean , offered the Royal Navy two aircraft with which to train its first pilots. The club also offered its members as instructors and the use of its airfield at Eastchurch on the Isle of Sheppey . The Admiralty accepted and on 6 December the Commander-in-Chief, The Nore promulgated the scheme to the officers under his jurisdiction and requested that applicants be unmarried and able to pay
1890-541: The Royal Navy. In addition to seaplanes, carrier-borne aircraft, and other aircraft with a legitimate "naval" application the RNAS also maintained several crack fighter squadrons on the Western Front, as well as allocating scarce resources to an independent strategic bombing force at a time when such operations were highly speculative. Inter-service rivalry even affected aircraft procurement. Urgently required Sopwith 1½ Strutter two-seaters had to be transferred from
1960-750: The UK's first mechanised armoured land force, The Naval Airmans Armoured Car Force, to support the Marine Battalions fighting as infantry in France and Flanders. Established with 60 fighting vehicles in September 1914, 18 x Rolls Royce, 21 x Clement-Talbot and 21 Wolsey armoured cars supported by 40 non-fighting vehicles, 4 x Wolsey ambulances, 8 x cars to carry spare parts, 8 x general service cars and 20 lorries it had its headquarters in 48 Dover Street, London and Depot at Wormwood Scrubs. By November 1914
2030-675: The air branch's expansion, Captain Murray Sueter was appointed Director of the newly formed Air Department at the Admiralty. Sueter's remit as outlined in September 1912 stated that he was responsible to the Admiralty for "all matters connected with the Naval Air Service." In the same month as the Air Department was set up, four naval seaplanes participated in Army Manoeuvres . In 1913 a seaplane base on
2100-522: The aircraft carrier HMS Hermes to serve as Senior Air Force Officer. He returned to the depot at RAF Uxbridge on 11 May 1927, and on 26 August was posted to Headquarters, Coastal Area, while he waited for HMS Courageous to be commissioned. Following the completion of her conversion to an aircraft carrier Courageous was commissioned at Devonport on 14 February 1928, and on 21 February Leckie joined her as Senior Air Force Officer. Leckie returned to dry land on 5 September 1929, when he
2170-517: The aircraft to attack the L 46 , but it had turned rapidly away and was out of range, as was the L 44 by the time he turned back. Both British aircraft had been hit, and the DH.4's engine soon failed. The Curtiss had also been hit in one engine and one wing was badly damaged. The DH.4 was forced to ditch into the sea , and Nicholl ordered Leckie to put the aircraft down to rescue the two crew. However, now with six men aboard, damaged, and in heavy seas Leckie
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2240-557: The base was attacked by Iraqi nationalists . Scotland Wales France Eastern Mediterranean Elsewhere Unlike the RFC, the RNAS was organised on a non-central basis so there were several No 1 Squadrons. Even wings numbers were not consistently given to the same unit, so there are many exceptions in historic data. At the start of the war there were three wings 1, 2 and 3. As the war progressed, other wings were formed. Squadrons serving in France were given numbers from 1 to 17. At
2310-506: The captives without a fight. The Russian Armoured Car Division consisted of 3 squadrons formed from 15 and 17 Squadrons plus volunteers from disbanded units under Oliver Locker-Lampson , sent to Russia in 1915, the Caucasus in 1916 and Galicia in 1917. It was transferred to Royal marines' control in November 1917 before leaving Russia in early 1918. However, RNAS experience of the Western Front would not be lost, No. 20 Squadron RNAS
2380-542: The command of Flight Lieutenant Christopher John Galpin. The aircraft left Great Yarmouth on patrol at 03.30 a.m. in poor weather with heavy rain and low cloud. The weather cleared as she approached the Texel , and at 4:45 a.m. she spotted the Terschelling Light Vessel, and a few minutes later Zeppelin L 22 about 10–15 miles away. The Curtiss increased speed and gained height, and Leckie took over
2450-541: The controls as Galpin manned the twin Lewis guns mounted in the bow. The Curtiss managed to approach to within half a mile before she was spotted, and the Zeppelin attempted to evade, but by then it was too late. The aircraft dived down alongside and Galpin fired an entire drum of incendiary bullets at a range of about 50 yards. The L 22 rapidly caught fire, and crashed into the sea. The Curtiss returned to Great Yarmouth by 7:50 a.m., and they found only two bullet holes, in
2520-473: The damaged wing tip broke off, and each man then had to spend two hours at a time outside balanced on the opposite wing to keep the broken wing from filling with water and dragging the aircraft under. After three days at sea, the six men were suffering badly. They had no food and only two gallons of drinking water, gained from draining the radiators of their water-cooled engines. Finally, at dawn on 8 September, as search operations were about to be called off, one of
2590-558: The destroyer HMS Redoubt . When Leckie's reconnaissance flight reported an approaching Zeppelin, the Redoubt steamed at full speed into the wind, allowing the Camel's pilot Lieutenant Culley to take off with only a five-yard run. Culley climbed to 18,800 feet, approached the L 53 out of the sun, and attacked with his twin Lewis guns, setting the airship on fire. On 20 August 1918 Leckie
2660-645: The end of the war BCATP had trained 131,553 air crew from 11 countries. On 5 August 1941 he was promoted to the acting rank of air vice-marshal , and served as Member of the Air Council for Training. On 6 April 1942 Leckie was placed on the RAF retired list on accepting a commission in the Royal Canadian Air Force. On 2 June 1943 he was made a Companion of the Order of the Bath (CB). From 1 January 1944 until 31 August 1947 Leckie served as Chief of Staff, RCAF with
2730-559: The first ship-borne aircraft raid was launched by the Japanese seaplane carrier Wakamiya on 6 September. A chain of coastal air stations was also constructed. This was followed with the Tondern raid , again against Zeppelins, which was the first instance of carrier launched aircraft. The first informal use of armoured cars by the RNAS was when Commander Charles Samson , on withdrawing The Eastchurch Squadron from Antwerp to Dunkirk, used
2800-541: The formation of the Royal Air Force on 1 April 1918, they became 201 to 217 squadrons of the RAF. Squadrons serving in the Eastern Mediterranean were given letters (A to G, and Z). In 1918, Squadron A became Squadron 222; Squadron B became Squadron 223; Squadron C became Squadron 220; and Squadron D became Squadron 221, all of the RAF. Squadron Z was transferred to the Royal Greek Navy . In
2870-444: The hard-pressed RFC squadrons soldiered on with their obsolescent Pups. On 23 June 1917, after the Second Battle of Gaza , RNAS aircraft attacked Tulkarm in the Judean Hills . On 1 April 1918, the RNAS was merged with the RFC to form the Royal Air Force . At the time of the merger, the Navy's air service had 55,066 officers and men, 2,949 aircraft, 103 airships and 126 coastal stations. The RNAS squadrons were absorbed into
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2940-499: The left upper wing and the hull amidships, where the Germans had returned fire. On 22 June, for his part in downing the L 22 , Leckie was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross , while Galpin received the Distinguished Service Order . On 30 June Leckie was promoted to flight lieutenant . Another memorable patrol began for Leckie at 10.35 a.m. on 5 September 1917, again flying Curtiss H-12 No. 8666 from Great Yarmouth, under Squadron Commander Vincent Nicholl. They were accompanied by
3010-439: The membership fees of the Royal Aero Club. The airfield became the Naval Flying School, Eastchurch. Two hundred applications were received, and four were accepted: Lieutenant C. R. Samson , Lieutenant A. M. Longmore , Lieutenant R. Gregory and Lieutenant E. L. Gerrard , RMLI . After prolonged discussion on the Committee of Imperial Defence, the Royal Flying Corps was constituted by Royal Warrant on 13 April 1912. It absorbed
3080-427: The nascent naval air detachment and also the Air Battalion of the Royal Engineers . It consisted of two wings with the Military Wing making up the Army element and Naval Wing, under Commander C. R. Samson. A Central Flying School staffed by officers and men of both the navy and the army was created at Upavon for the pilot training of both wings, and opened on 19 June 1912 under the command of Captain Godfrey Paine ,
3150-410: The new structure, individual squadrons receiving new squadron numbers by effectively adding 200 to the number so No. 1 Squadron RNAS (a famous fighter squadron) became No. 201 Squadron RAF . The Royal Navy regained its own air service in 1937, when the Fleet Air Arm of the Royal Air Force (covering carrier borne aircraft, but not the seaplanes and maritime reconnaissance aircraft of Coastal Command )
3220-400: The observer/gunner's position. After about an hour they spotted the L 70 and attacked, with Leckie firing eighty rounds of incendiary bullets into her. Fire rapidly consumed the airship as it plummeted into the sea. Cadbury and Leckie, and another pilot Lieutenant Ralph Edmund Keys, then attacked and damaged another Zeppelin, which promptly turned tail and headed for home. All three received
3290-417: The other, while Flight Commanders and Flight Observers had their insignia surmounted by one such star. After the RNAS merged with the Royal Flying Corps to form the Royal Air Force in 1918, the RNAS pilot appointments became the basis of certain RAF officer ranks , most notably Wing Commander and Flight Lieutenant . The following grades were introduced for other ranks in the RNAS and were announced in
3360-449: The pigeons was found, dead from exhaustion, by the coastguard station at Walcot , and shortly after midday they were rescued by the torpedo gunboat HMS Halcyon . Pigeon No. N.U.R.P./17/F.16331 was preserved , and originally kept in the officers' mess at RNAS Yarmouth, but is now on display at the RAF Museum Hendon . A brass plate on the display case bears the inscription "A very gallant gentleman". On 31 December 1917 Leckie
3430-435: The planned RNAS strategic bombing force to RFC squadrons on the Western Front because the Sopwith firm were contracted to supply the RNAS exclusively. This situation continued, although most of Sopwith's post-1915 products were not designed specifically as naval aircraft. Thus RNAS fighter squadrons obtained Sopwith Pup fighters months before the RFC, and then replaced these first with Sopwith Triplanes and then Camels while
3500-403: The post as Air Aide-de-Camp to the King to Group Captain Keith Park the same day. Leckie's tenure as Director of Training ended on 28 November 1938, and on 2 December 1938 he was appointed Air Officer Commanding , RAF Mediterranean , based at Malta. In 1940, Leckie was seconded to the Royal Canadian Air Force to establish the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan (BCATP) in Canada. By
3570-401: The rank of air marshal . For his service during the Second World War Leckie received the Order of Polonia Restituta (1st class) from the President of the Republic of Poland on 1 May 1945, and was also made a Commander of the Legion of Merit by the United States, and a Grand Officer of both the Belgian Order of the Crown and the Czechoslovakian Order of the White Lion . In July 1948 he
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#17327840439583640-411: The rank were first gazetted on 30 June 1914. By the outbreak of the First World War in August 1914, the RNAS had 93 aircraft, six airships, two balloons and 727 personnel. The Navy maintained twelve airship stations around the coast of Britain from Longside , Aberdeenshire , in the northeast to Anglesey in the west. On 1 August 1915 the Royal Naval Air Service officially came under the control of
3710-427: The role fall to his protegee at the Naval Ordnance Department, Captain Murray Sueter . Consequently Sueter was the first Royal Navy officer assigned to a naval air project. On 21 June 1910, Lt. George Cyril Colmore became the first qualified pilot in the Royal Navy. After completing training, which Colmore paid for out of his own pocket, he was issued with Royal Aero Club Certificate Number 15. In November 1910,
3780-611: The same name. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Robert_Leckie&oldid=1243456532 " Category : Human name disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Robert Leckie (RCAF officer) Air Marshal Robert Leckie , CB , DSO , DSC , DFC , CD (16 April 1890 – 31 March 1975)
3850-486: The squadron's unarmoured touring cars to provide line of communications security and to pick up aircrew who had been forced to land in hostile territory. Commander Samson's younger brother Felix saw the possibilities when he armed one car with a Maxim gun and ambushed a German car near Cassel on 4 September 1914. Commander Samson then had a shipbuilder in Dunkirk, Forges et Chantiers de France, add boilerplate to his Rolls-Royce and Mercedes vehicles. The Admiralty set up
3920-424: The terrain was more favourable - to protect the canal and operate in the Western Desert . Squadrons of the RNACD were used in German South West Africa (Rolls Royce Armoured Cars) and in British East Africa ( Lanchester Armoured Cars with British Army Leyland lorries, later reinforced with a section of Rolls Royce from SW Africa). In 1915, a RN armed steamer the SS Tara and SS Moorina had been sunk off
3990-461: The withdrawal from Antwerp to the Yser , in 1914 (see RNAS Armoured Car Section below). Later in the war, squadrons of the RNAS were sent to France to directly support the RFC. The RNAS was also at one stage entrusted with the air defence of London. This led to its raids on airship stations in Germany, in places as far from the sea as the manufacturing site at Friedrichshafen . Before techniques were developed for taking off and landing on ships ,
4060-415: Was also appointed an additional Air Aide-de-Camp to King George V , attending the King's funeral in that capacity on 28 January 1936, and was appointed Air Aide-de-Camp to King Edward VIII on 1 July 1936. Leckie was appointed Director of Training at the Air Ministry on 5 October 1936, taking over from Air Commodore Arthur Tedder , and was promoted to air commodore on 1 January 1937, handing over
4130-408: Was an air officer in the Royal Air Force and later in the Royal Canadian Air Force , and served as Chief of the Air Staff of the Royal Canadian Air Force from 1944 to 1947. He initially served in the Royal Naval Air Service during the First World War, where he became known as one of "the Zeppelin killers from Canada", after shooting down two airships. During the inter-war period he served as
4200-411: Was appointed a flight commander . While on patrol on 20 February 1918, Leckie spotted an enemy submarine on the surface, and attacked it with bombs, seeing one strike the vessel as it dived, leaving a large oil slick. Leckie was subsequently awarded the Distinguished Service Order on 17 May 1918, only learning much later that he had not actually sunk it. On 1 April 1918, the Royal Naval Air Service
4270-423: Was appointed commander of RAF Bircham Newton , Norfolk. On 11 April 1931 he became commander of No. 210 Squadron RAF , initially based at Felixstowe , and then RAF Pembroke Dock , flying the Supermarine Southampton Mk. II. On 1 January 1933 Leckie was promoted to group captain , and on 30 January he was appointed both Superintendent of the RAF Reserve and commander of RAF Hendon . On 21 August 1935 Leckie
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#17327840439584340-413: Was appointed commander of the newly formed No. 228 Squadron , flying the Curtis H-12 and Felixstowe F.2A out of Great Yarmouth. Within three months the armistice brought the fighting to an end. Leckie remained with the RAF until 31 March 1919 when he was transferred to the unemployed list, and simultaneously seconded to the Canadian Air Force with the temporary rank of lieutenant colonel , to command
4410-418: Was awarded the King Haakon VII Freedom Cross by the King of Norway "in recognition of distinguished services rendered in the cause of the Allies". Leckie retired from the Royal Canadian Air Force on 1 September 1947, though he continued to take an interest in aviation, serving as a special consultant to the Air Cadet League . Air Marshal Leckie died on 31 March 1975, the last surviving wartime Chief of
4480-448: Was born in Glasgow , Scotland, where his father and grandfather were weavers . In 1909 his family emigrated to Canada, where he worked for his uncle John Leckie while living in West Toronto . Leckie was initially commissioned into the 1st Central Ontario Regiment , and in late 1915 paid Can$ 600 to begin flying training at the Curtiss Flying School on Toronto Island . However, he had completed only three hours of training in
4550-404: Was granted Royal Aero Club Aviator's Certificate No. 2923, and was then sent to RNAS Felixstowe for further training in flying boats. He was confirmed in his rank of flight sub-lieutenant in June, and in August was posted to RNAS Great Yarmouth to fly patrols over the North Sea . Leckie's first success came on 14 May 1917, as pilot of Curtiss Model H-12 'Large America' No. 8666, under
4620-434: Was merged with the Army's Royal Flying Corps to form the Royal Air Force, and Leckie transferred to the new service with the rank of lieutenant (temporary captain), though on 8 April he was promoted to the temporary rank of major . On 4 June 1918 Leckie led an offensive patrol of four Felixstowe F.2 A flying boats and a Curtiss H.12 towards the Haaks Light Vessel off the Dutch coast. They saw no enemy aircraft until one of
4690-447: Was put on defence of the East Coast. No 2, commanded by Hugh Grosvenor, 2nd Duke of Westminster , arrived in France in March 1915. The firepower of the Armoured Cars was reinforced by Seabrook lorries (three per squadron) armed with 3-pounder Hotchkiss guns. No 3 and No. 4 Squadron, with Rolls Royce Armoured Cars were sent to Gallipoli but spent most of their time there protected in trenches until they were removed to Egypt - where
4760-431: Was retained under Naval control to further develop armoured vehicles for land battle, these personnel later becoming the nucleus of the team working under the Landship Committee that developed the first tanks . The RAF later inherited some ex-RNAS armoured cars left in the Middle East, and during the Second World War , the Number 1 Armoured Car Company RAF played an important role in the defence of RAF Habbaniya when
4830-444: Was returned to Admiralty control and renamed the Naval Air Branch. In 1952, the service returned to its pre-1937 name of the Fleet Air Arm. The main "naval" roles of the RNAS (ignoring for the minute the service's direct field "support" of the RFC) were fleet reconnaissance, patrolling coasts for enemy ships and submarines , and attacking enemy coastal territory. The RNAS systematically searched 4,000 square miles (10,000 km ) of
4900-429: Was unable to take off again. Some 75 miles from the English coast, the aircraft began to taxi towards home. Their radio was waterlogged, but they did have four homing pigeons . Nicholl attached messages to the birds giving their position and course and sent them off at intervals. After four hours the aircraft ran out of fuel, and began to drift, so they improvised a sea anchor from empty fuel cans to steady it. That night
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